


A Time For Self-Deflection

by ThePagemistress



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-22 03:04:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11371272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePagemistress/pseuds/ThePagemistress
Summary: Kimi gets (several) calls from Sebastian who has just found out about the tribunal surrounding his Baku exploits.





	A Time For Self-Deflection

**Author's Note:**

> This can barely even be called a fic, to be honest. I just had thoughts and emotions about this Baku business but instead of just blathering on about it myself, I figured I'd do it through projection. Because why not?

By the time Kimi checked his phone, he’d already had four missed calls and a text message that just said _‘Not important! Doesn’t matter, I sorted it out.’_

Kimi sighed before returning the call.

“I said it didn’t matter, I sorted it,” Seb replied in lieu of a greeting.

“What’s sorted?”

A hesitation. “The…thing I was calling about.”

“Which was?” A longer hesitation. “Just talk, I wasn’t ignoring your calls. Just didn’t see. Tell me.”

“They’re re-investigating me for Baku,” Seb eventually blurted out.

Kimi nodded to himself, not all that surprised knowing what the FIA could be like. “To give another penalty?”

“I don’t know. I’m hearing disqualification, I’m hearing race bans. Nothing official, just speculation.” Kimi hummed in acknowledgement. “Tribunal’s on Monday,” he continued and Kimi could almost hear the pout appear from his tone.

“Is that a problem?”

“It’s my 30th birthday!” One day Kimi might remember Seb’s birthday. Today was not that day.

“Ah. Well, then it will be a memorable birthday for you, huh? More interesting than mine.”

"I find that hard to believe," Seb replied.

“Do not really remember, to be honest.”

“Well, that sounds like it was probably _very_ interesting. Just other people remembered it more,” Seb continued and Kimi couldn’t help but smirk to himself. It was a technique he’d developed early in their friendship. Whenever Seb used to get too self-reflective or go over things too much in his head, Kimi learned to distract him just a little bit from his negative thoughts. Just a small comment that managed to derail the conversation enough to not appear like he wasn’t listening but enough to get Seb out of his slump quicker. Still worked like a charm.

“This could be true,” Kimi said. “You have to go?”

“What? No, I thought we were talking?”

“To the tribunal,” Kimi clarified. “They need you to go?”

“Oh! Uh, I don’t actually know. I haven’t heard anything. I think it’s more just an FIA thing. But I’ll still just be waiting around to hear what they decide.”

“You don’t have to. Go out, celebrate.”

In the brief pause, it was almost as if Kimi could _hear_ Seb rolling his eyes. “I’m fighting for a championship. I could lose so many points, Kimi.”

“If they do the disqualification, you still stay ahead? Or not?”

“We’ll be tied,” Seb said immediately, because of course he’d already gone over every scenario and had the points table memorised. “I am 14 points ahead, I lose 12, he gets an extra 2. But then if they ban me too-“

“No.”

“…No?”

“No, they will not do a ban. It would be stupid for them. You have a lot of fans who pay and travel to see you race, they cannot do this so quickly. Is not fair to them. Plus this was what people wanted to see, I thought. Some big drama. Emotions, bullshit,” Kimi said, waving his hand around. “Is bringing more attention to it all. Making it more exciting or whatever.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know if they’re going to see it that way. They want to make an example of me or something.”

“They do like doing that,” Kimi said, thinking back to the very similar situation in Mexico last year where they actually had a very similar conversation now that he thought about it.

“Do you think I should get a ban?” Seb asked, voice a little quieter than it had been. As if he wasn’t really sure if he wanted to ask it or not.

Kimi’s mouth twitched in a smile. “Why you always ask me this, huh? I don’t make rules. It doesn’t matter what I think.”

“But-“ Seb paused for a moment to get his thoughts together. “I just want to know that you trust me. That you don’t think I’m dangerous on the track.”

“I think you did something fucking stupid like you do sometimes. Hot-headed but not with an intent to be dangerous. You want to know what _I_ think the problem is?"

“Please.”

“That you didn’t admit it!” Kimi said. “In all the shit after, you don’t answer if it was deliberate or you ignore and blame him for brake-testing. I think the not taking responsibility was the big mistake.”

Seb was quiet for a moment but Kimi didn’t have any concerns. Seb didn’t take criticism too well from certain people but Kimi had always had it pretty easy. It was a minor blessing. “You watch my interviews?”

Kimi sighed. “You know I do. Don’t change the subject. This is something too. That you do a lot. Always with the deflections.”

“Ooh, that’s a big word!” When Kimi offered only a pointed silence in response, Seb continued with a, “Sorry. Explain, I don’t really know what you mean.”

“Like China last year,” Kimi said. “You hit me at the start trying to avoid Kvyat and ruined my race BUT-“ he continued, hearing Seb about to interrupt to defend himself, “you continue to blame him all through the race. And after.”

“But that _was_ his fault!”

“It was but you knew that you had fucked up too and so tried extra hard to blame him. Here is the same. You think Hamilton brake-test you, you hit him, you feel stupid for hitting him, you overreact and hit again and then deflect after to keep attention away from what you did.”

The pause was much longer this time and Kimi could only imagine what was going through the German’s mind. Probably replaying all his interviews in his head, trying to find the truth in what Kimi was saying. His only response was a “hm”.

“I just think it would work better for you to admit fault in the future.”

“Or I could just stop doing stupid shit,” Seb suggested, earning a chuckle from Kimi.

“Or that too would work, probably.”

“Why do I feel like we’ve had this conversation before?”

“When you call me after Turkey. 2010.”

“…Ah,” was Seb’s response. That had been a fun conversation. Sebastian had been much harder to talk down in those days, feeling like he had more to prove than he did now. Although that prancing horse did have an extra bit of weight to it, hanging around the shoulders.

“Is nice to know you took my advice then, huh?” Kimi said, not keeping the smirk out of his tone so Seb knew he was teasing.

“Nothing wrong with a bit of a refresher course. I’ll try and remember this time. If only people knew how insightful you were, Kimi! You should write a self-help book.”

“Shut up. Maybe I start charging you for this. Look, I have to go. Everything OK now? You will stop thinking about it?”

“I’ll stop thinking about it as much, sure.”

“It will do.”

“Thanks, Kimi, I appreciate it.”

“Sure. And I will see you in Austria,” Kimi said, his tone brooking no argument.

“You could also always call me on Monday, you know.”

“I will hear what the verdict is anyway, it will be in the media.”

“To wish me a happy birthday, asshole!”

“Oh right, that. Sure, maybe, if I have time, bye,” Kimi said, grinning at Seb’s indignant spluttering on the other end of the line as he hung up.


End file.
